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ALAMEDA — Tom Cable admitted he had mixed feelings about re-entering the building from which he was the subject of a messy public dismissal.

But as his flight touched down at Oakland International Airport some nine years later, Cable began to feel a sense of calm.

“Once I got off the plane, it was like being at home,” Cable said Thursday as the Raiders closed out their off-season with the third day of a mandatory mini-camp. “I really think from the car ride to the airport here, it was great peace. And when I went through the gate, it was like, `This is where I belong.’ ”

While it seemed odd the Raiders and Cable would again be a match, in reality it’s as if he’s come full circle. He would be coaching with Jon Gruden, who stood on the opposite sideline with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 28, 2008.

Cable’s Raiders won 31-24, knocking Gruden’s 9-7 Buccaneers from a playoff berth. The Raiders finished 5-11, but the win was enough for Al Davis to remove the interim label from Cable’s title of head coach. He had replaced Lane Kiffin four games in to the season.

Gruden, on the other hand, was fired after the Bucs had gone 45-53 since winning Super Bowl XXXVII over the Raiders, playing in two wild card games and losing them both.

“We’ve joked about it a couple of times,” Cable said. “We were just a young team trying to figure things out and they were battling for the playoffs.”

Cable lasted through 2010 (going 17-27) before Davis declined to exercise a two-year option in his contract after an 8-8 season. Then the Raiders owner, at the time in failing health, used a press conference announcing the promotion of offensive coordinator Hue Jackson to detail a list of grievances against Cable.

“When I left here, I left here and I didn’t want to,” Cable said. “That’s just the truth. I put that team back and got it up off the mat. Dusted itself off, got to .500 and then we’re going to change. It was like unfinished business. It was really kind of natural and a comfortable decision to be back and wear these colors again.”

A native of Washington, Cable landed on his feet with Seattle as assistant head coach and line coach, where the Seahawks won a Super Bowl and narrowly missed winning a second.

Given that Gruden was also sent packing by Davis under dramatically different circumstances — he was traded to the Bucs for two first-round draft picks, two second-round picks and $8 million — Cable can see where the two are kindred spirits.

“For some people this can be just a business all the time, I think for guys like he and I, at least as I get to know him, it’s more personal,” Cable said. “This has been my team since I was a little boy, so it’s not like it changed because I got run out of town.”

The Raiders were at the height of dysfunction when Cable departed. Jackson was hired in 2010 by Davis to run the offense, essentially a forced marriage with Cable. Cable was allegedly involved in a training camp scuffle with assistant Randy Hanson, who ended up with a broken jaw. No charges were filed.

In December of 2009, an ESPN “Outside the Lines” story delved into Cable’s alleged issues with domestic abuse. Cable issued a statement which admitted with regret to one transgression — striking his ex-wife with an open hand some 17 years earlier.

By the time the 2010 season ended, Davis was fining Cable $20,000 per week, saying he needed to cover legal costs.

Yet Cable said there are no hard feelings toward Davis, who died less than a year after his dismissal.

“All the great things Al Davis had done, to me, those were valuable,” Cable said. “Did we always get along? I don’t know a lot of people who got along with him all the time. But my respect for him is unblemished.”

Asked why there was no bitterness, Cable said, “He’s a teacher to me. He’s a mentor to me. So to have the opportunity to come back and help make this right and to help Jon see this through the right way, that’s pretty powerful for me. I don’t think there is any place for bitterness.”

Cable said his interactions with Gruden through the years were mostly limited to production meetings with ESPN when Gruden was the Monday Night Football analyst.

“I think the connection, at least for me, is he loves ball like I love ball,” Cable said. “He’s intense about it. He has a belief about what he likes. When we got a chance to sit down, I was shocked about how well we hit it off . . . he loves his football team like I do.

“Regardless of what the past has been for either one of us, there’s a little bit of Raider blood in both of us.”

Gruden believes Cable to be one of the most detailed teachers of offensive line play in the NFL, a crucial skill in an age of reduced practice time and repetitions.

“You can go down and sit in an offensive line meeting for 30 minutes and he can coach about three days worth of information,” Gruden said. “He’s always ready. He’s sharp, but he’s a really good teacher. He’s into it every day.”

Cable has found himself stimulated by Gruden’s level of energy.

“He has a really dynamic way of doing things every day, which I think is very refreshing for those of us who have been involved in the game in his absence,” Cable said. “It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been the right kind of work. There’s a real vision here, and I think that’s important.”